Perhaps in some fundamentalist groups; I can't say because I'm just not too familiar with that part of Protestantism. Since Protestantism tends to embrace God and His Scripture as the only infallible Authority, and since Protestantism does not require a docilic acceptance of whatever the denomination says, I don't think the same categories apply in any Protestant denomination.
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Don't you encounter this within your (and my) Lutheran denomination? Just try to dissent from the Athanasian Creed and you'll find yourself slammed as not Christian.
Or is it because I call myself there a Lutheran Catholic? That itself is enough to get called out there as not a Christian.
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I respectfully disagree with your deacon, I once had a priest tell me that a faith that is not questioned is no faith at all. Both are the opinions of men, and I don't see where one is more valid than another. I freely admit that there was a time when I was a cafeteria Catholic, but am no more. This is because I studied the doctrines that I felt I disagreed with and discovered that when I took the time to examine why the Church taught what she did, I discovered that the Church was right and I was wrong. I do not think that most "true" Catholics blindly accept what the Church teaches but instead finds out what and why the Church teaches as she does.
Peace and all good,
Nancy
__________________ Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words. -St. Francis of Assisi
This may be a little off-topic, but I remember someone (don't recall if it was a Catholic or a Protestant) on another website describing a Catholic parish in which the priest told everyone, Don't come forward for communion unless you agree with every word of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
I have a feeling that priest would get along real well with your deacon, CaliforniaJosiah.
__________________ Sincerely,
Catholic in New England.
"And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer
Let it be"
This may be a little off-topic, but I remember someone (don't recall if it was a Catholic or a Protestant) on another website describing a Catholic parish in which the priest told everyone, Don't come forward for communion unless you agree with every word of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
Originally Posted by Catholic_NE
I have a feeling that priest would get along real well with your deacon, CaliforniaJosiah.
Some are much more radical than that! They'd insist, "Don't come to the Eucharist if you voted for Obama since he's pro-abortion!" And some here at CF have argued that Senator Kennedy should be excommunicated since he cannot be Catholic and support Roe v. Wade.
IMHO, the Deacon had a valid point from the Catholic perspective (much as I PERSONALLY didn't like it).
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POLITICAL resolution: Power, Authority, Individualism, infallible/unaccountable, lording it over others, lecture.
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Some are much more radical than that! They'd insist, "Don't come to the Eucharist if you voted for Obama since he's pro-abortion!"
True, there are Catholics who say that, but I hardly think that's more radical than -- or even as radical as -- saying "Don't come to the Eucharist unless you agree with every word written in the CCC."
__________________ Sincerely,
Catholic in New England.
"And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer
Let it be"
True, there are Catholics who say that, but I hardly think that's more radical than -- or even as radical as -- saying "Don't come to the Eucharist unless you agree with every word written in the CCC."
It's obviously much more radical.
It's newbie, just the first universal RC catechism ever, but it professes to be a true compilation of RC teachings. Never does the CCC get into politics. It's a moral issue to say that abortion is wrong. Completely different is the political issue to criminalize abortions and send people to jail (or worse) for it. Even more out of bounds is to condemn people who happen to vote for someone who among a thousand good Catholic issues does not vote to re-criminalize abortion--or even farther removed, who regards the constitutional issue as settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.
I am very insistent upon this, I get violently upset when I hear EWTN botch this issue constantly.
Korah
That's an interesting distinction between cafeteria Catholics and "Protestants hiding in the Catholic Church"; I hadn't come across that one before.
I daresay your deacon would consider me the latter. I would just call it "thinking" myself (-:
When I first joined the Church it worried me a little that some people said that I wasn't a real Catholic (though that has only ever happened on internet forums). But I soon learned that the Catholic Church has had its internal disagreements ever since the start; there have always been little sub-groups within the Church. Thankfully the Church is much bigger and broader than any individual. I think the time I stopped worrying is when I saw the same group who said I wasn't sufficiently Catholic saying JP-II wasn't sufficiently Catholic ("I'm in very good company then" I thought).
One of my friends like to say that the Church is catholic, i.e. universal. It is big enough for everyone.
This may be a little off-topic, but I remember someone (don't recall if it was a Catholic or a Protestant) on another website describing a Catholic parish in which the priest told everyone, Don't come forward for communion unless you agree with every word of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
I have a feeling that priest would get along real well with your deacon, CaliforniaJosiah.
That's a horrible thing for a priest to say. The CCC is useful but incomplete.
One of the major influences on my faith was when I did a research paper on Purgatory. One advantage of the topic was that, unlike something like the Trinity, the concept of Purgatory developed slowly during the first millennium. This allowed me to read pretty much everything relevant from that period. The variety of thought left a deep impression on me. While I could see how great theologians like Augustine, Gregory the Great, or Aquinas each moved us to a deeper understanding of the subject, I also could see how each one left the topic incomplete. Each step lead to more profound insights, but each step also came with dramatic changes in things that were non-essential.
To freeze our understanding at any of these steps would have been a tragedy, yet I fear that there are those who would like do just that today. Rather than guarding our current understanding against any changes, we must meditate on the fullness of the Church's Tradition, discern what is true and what is false, keep what is true, and discard what is false. That is the only way the Church can grow into its fullness.
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